In the Aftermath
by Carrie1138
Summary: A short piece filling in what happened at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, when the Millennium Falcon arrived at the Alliance rendezvous.


**IN THE AFTERMATH**

Leia refused to leave Luke's side until he was safely in the hands of the medical team. Only then was she able to take a breath, and turn her mind to other things. The moment she did though, she wished she hadn't.

Han. She had lost him, just as she had known she would. He was alive, but on his way to Jabba the Hutt, vulnerable and alone. She rushed back to the hangar.

"Chewie!" she called, as she ran up the _Falcon_'s ramp. "Lando! We have to go after him. We have to find Han!" The words died in her throat as she reached the main hold, and saw General Rieekan.

He stepped forward. "I'm sorry, your highness," he said. "I know you've been through a lot, but I need to know what happened. Baron Calrissian here has told me some of it, but -"

Leia's eyes shot towards Lando. He at least had the grace to look guilty. "I told him everything, Leia," he said. "Including how I betrayed you. I really didn't expect it to come to this, you know. I -"

She shook her head, her anger defused by his obvious remorse. "It's okay, Lando. You helped us escape, the debt is paid. But Han -"

Lando shook his head. "Not yet. We can't just take off, we need a plan."

"But he'll kill him!"

He shook his head again. "Probably not. At least not right away. Jabba will want to gloat, to revel in his victory, to show Han off as a lesson to others. He's safe, for now."

"_Safe?_"

"Please … trust me. I know what I'm talking about. In the meantime, you have to think about your friend Luke."

Rieekan nodded, stepping forward again. "He's right, Leia. He told me you ran into Vader. I need to know what happened, what it means for the Alliance."

She was beaten, and she knew it. She took a seat at the Dejarik table, as Lando and Chewie left the room.

Rieekan squeezed her hand. "You may not want to hear it, princess, but we're all very glad to see you alive," he told her. "When you disappeared after Hoth, we feared the worst."

"Han saved us," she whispered. "He evaded the blockade, but the _Falcon _was damaged, and we couldn't jump to lightspeed. We had to hide, until the fleet left. Then we started for Bespin, which was the nearest safe port. He thought his friend Lando would help us." She sighed deeply. "But we were followed … by a bounty hunter named Boba Fett, who informed Vader of our destination. I thought we were dead, I thought Vader would kill us. But it turned out he was using us as bait … to trap Luke."

"That's the one thing I don't understand," Rieekan said. "I know Skywalker fired the shot that destroyed the Death Star, and I can understand Vader wanting him dead for that … but why would he want to capture him? And why would he go to such lengths to do so?"

Leia shrugged tiredly. "I guess you'll have to ask Luke that … when he's able to talk. I don't understand it myself … unless it's a Jedi thing."

"Explain?"

"Well, you know Luke was trying to train as a Jedi, or at least trying to learn how to use the Force … and we've all heard the rumours that Vader used to be a Jedi himself, before he helped the Emperor hunt them down and kill them. Perhaps that's why he wanted him."

"But the boy had almost no training. General Kenobi died before he could give him any real help … and as far as we know, there are no other Jedi left in the galaxy."

"No …" Something was stirring in the back of Leia's mind. Something Luke had said, back on Hoth, a million years ago, it seemed like. She frowned, searching for the memory, but Rieekan interrupted her thoughts.

"I don't suppose you have any idea where Commander Skywalker had been since leaving Hoth, do you?"

"What - he didn't make the rendezvous either?"

"No. We had feared you were all lost."

She frowned again, and the memory began to surface. "General, there is something. I remember Luke saying, before we left Hoth, that he might have to go away for a while, that there was something he needed to do. He didn't tell me any more than that, but perhaps he'd learned something … about another Jedi?"

"Perhaps," Rieekan nodded. He reached for her hand again. "Thank you, your highness. I'll have to wait to hear Commander Skywalker's side of the story, of course, but if there are other Jedi out there, or even one, that could be great news for the Alliance."

Leia nodded, but found she couldn't speak. After Rieekan left her, she lowered her head to the table. She was exhausted. Silent tears rose to her eyes, and fell. She didn't fight them. Han was gone, Luke was broken, they were beaten. She knew she would have to find some way to go on, to keep fighting, but right now all she could do was mourn what she had lost.

When Chewbacca lifted her head from the table and took her in his arms, she barely even noticed. The Wookiee stroked her hair, keening to her gently as she wept against his chest. Eventually, she sank into an exhausted sleep, and he carried her to her bunk, covering her gently with the blanket. He left her to sleep, but didn't go far. Han had asked him to look after her, but he hadn't really needed to. While Leia needed him, he would be there.

***

The next few days were anxious ones. Luke's physical injuries had been fairly easy to deal with; he had been fitted with an artificial hand that was almost indistinguishable from his real one, and he was recovering well. But his mental state continued to cause concern. He kept sinking in and out of what seemed like part deep sleep, part coma. And when he woke, he rambled, making no sense. Leia had spent as much time with him as she could, hoping to be able to help him, but while he sometimes seemed to recognise her, other times he didn't even seem to be seeing her at all.

Leia had begun to settle back into life with the Alliance, but part of her could not rest, would never rest, until they had found and saved Han. She missed him so much, it was almost a physical pain. She was constantly exhausted from the fear that, at any moment, news could reach her of his death, and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. And then there was the fear for Luke. She worried that he would never recover, that the mental strain of his encounter with Vader had been too great, and his mind could not repair itself.

She sat next to his bed for hours each day, holding his hand, waiting for him to wake up, willing him to be back to his old self when he did. "Come on, Luke," she whispered, for what felt like the thousandth time. "Come back to us. We need you … _I_ need you."

Moments later, his eyes fluttered open, staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment. Then, slowly, he turned his head until he was looking at her. He looked … normal.

"Leia," he breathed.

"Luke!" Her hand tightened on his. "How do you feel?"

"Like I got run over by a bantha," he grimaced.

She laughed, even as tears rose to her eyes. "We were so worried," she told him. "We didn't know if you would ever recover." She helped him roll onto his side, and handed him a cup of water as the medical droid came forward to check him over.

"How long?" Luke asked.

"About a week," Leia replied. "Your physical injuries are all but healed, but …"

He nodded. "I lost my mind for a while, I guess."

"Yeah."

He leaned back against the pillows as 2-1B moved away. "I'm sorry," he said. "I walked right into Vader's trap. It's all my own fault." He reached for her hand. "How did you escape?"

"Lando helped us," she told him. "He was the administrator of Cloud City; Vader used him to trap us to lure you in, but then he turned against Vader and helped us get to the _Falcon_."

"I'm sorry," he said again. "Is everyone else okay?"

Leia couldn't meet his eyes. Luke felt a deep sadness in her, and was afraid. "What happened?" he demanded. "Tell me. Who didn't make it?"

She took a deep breath. "Han," she said, and felt him grip her hand in shock. "He's not dead," she hastily clarified. "But … Vader froze him in carbonite, to test the machine before he used it on you … to make sure you'd survive. And then he gave him to the bounty hunter, to take to Jabba the Hutt."

Luke groaned. "Leia, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."

"No, it's not," she argued. "You're not responsible … for any of it." 

"But I am," he insisted. "If I hadn't fallen for it … if I'd done what Yoda told me to …"

Leia frowned. "Luke, who is Yoda? You kept mentioning that name, but you weren't making any sense …"

"Yoda's a Jedi master," he told her. "I went to him after Dagobah, and he trained me, in the ways of the Jedi. He warned me not to fall for Vader's manipulations, he told me to stay and finish the training … now I've ruined everything."

"You're a Jedi?"

He looked up, surprised by the awe in her voice, and shrugged, embarrassed all of a sudden. "Kind of … I guess. But I lost my lightsaber, and I went against my master's advice … I don't feel like much of a Jedi, at least not now. And I failed … I went there to rescue you and Han, and now Han's lost … and you had to rescue me!"

Leia was sure getting so agitated couldn't be good for him. "Take it easy, Luke," she said. "You've been through a lot, you need to rest. Don't worry about Han. Lando and Chewie are going after the bounty hunter in a couple of days. You need to think about yourself now."

He looked at her, and she felt like he was looking into her soul. "_You're_ worried about Han, though," he said quietly. "Really worried."

Leia couldn't deny it. "I don't want to lose him," she breathed. She avoided his eyes, but Luke knew what she was feeling, what she felt - for Han. She loved him.

"Does he know?" he asked, and Leia looked at him, confused.

"That I'm worried?" she asked, and then she saw what he was really asking. She blushed. "You've learned some Jedi skills, at least," she said. Then she sighed. "He knows. That is - he knew. If he retains enough of his mind to still know when he comes out of the carbonite is another question." She looked away again, into the distance, her mind far away for a moment. Then she came back. "You don't seem very surprised."

Luke smiled, and for a moment he looked truly like his old self. "Of course I'm not surprised," he said. "It's not like everyone didn't know you two were going to end up together. The only real question was when."

Leia blushed again. "Great," she grumbled. "Gossip. My very favourite thing."

He grinned, and she couldn't help but smile back. Then she stood up. "I should be going," she said. "I've got a meeting with the General Council soon. And you should get some rest. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks for being here."

She hugged him, kissed him on the cheek, and then left him alone. He knew she was right, he should be resting, he could feel he was still weak. But he couldn't help his thoughts wandering back to the mistakes he had made, and the damage he had done, not only to himself and his training, but to his friends, the very people he had set out to save. Yoda had been right: he should have stayed on Dagobah until he was sure he could face Vader. He hadn't been ready, and the Dark Lord had almost killed him. And … Vader was his father. Thinking it again was like realising it for the first time all over again, even though it had haunted his nightmares for the last week. He still wasn't sure if he believed it. He didn't want to believe it, it didn't seem possible, but at the same time, it felt _true_. But then why had no-one _told_ him?

He shook his head. He would drive himself mad again thinking like this, he had to stop. Closing his eyes, he decided he would not think about whether it was true or not … he would wait. Yoda would know. When he could, he would revisit Yoda, and the Jedi master would be able to tell him whether Vader had lied or not. Until then … he had other things to do. He had to find a new lightsaber, or find out how to make one. And he had to rescue Han. Then he would be ready to face the truth.

***

Two days later, Luke was well enough to be moved out of the medical wing. Leia was with him as 2-1B made the final checks on his new hand and gave him approval to begin using it, and then they said goodbye to Lando and Chewie, as they left to track down Boba Fett as he made his way back to Tatooine, and Jabba.

Leia walked away from him as the medical droid finished his work, standing by the observation window to watch the _Falcon_ depart. He knew her mind was full of anxiety for Han, but she was still hiding it, and hiding it well. He joined her, putting his arm around her shoulders, and they watched their friends leave together.

When the _Falcon_ was gone, Leia looked up at him. "General Rieekan asked me to tell you that he's ready to do your debriefing when you are," she said.

"I'll call him now -"

She reached for his arm as he stepped away from her. "Don't rush into it, Luke," she warned him. "You were a mess when we brought you back here … don't do anything that could put you back in that state."

"It's okay," he reassured her. "I've got it under control now. I can handle it."

There were a million questions Leia wanted to ask in that moment, about what had happened to him on Cloud City, what Vader had done to him, what had been so bad that it had almost destroyed his mind. But she suppressed them. She would hear the official version from Rieekan, but had a feeling it would tell her nothing more than she already knew. And she could feel that pressing Luke for more information right now would be useless. All she could do for now was wait, and hope that, eventually, he would be ready to tell her. She hugged him again, holding him close.

"If you need me …" she whispered.

He nodded. "I know where you are. And … if you …"

She closed her eyes. "Thank you."

***


End file.
